Part 10 (2/2)
”I've forgotten all that, for the sea washed it away from my mind.”
”Really?”
”As clean as the wind has washed the sky.”
Not a cloud stained the broad expanse from horizon to horizon.
”That's a beautiful way to put it. Now that we are here on the island, we begin all over again and forget what happened on the s.h.i.+p?”
”Aye, all of it.”
”Shake on it.”
He took her hand, but so gingerly that she laughed.
”We have to be careful of you,” he explained seriously. ”Here we are, as McTee puts it, on the rim of the world, two men an' one woman. If something happens to one of us, a third of our population's gone.”
”A third of our population! Then I'm very important?”
”You are.”
He was so serious that it disconcerted her. It suddenly became impossible for her to meet his eyes, they burned so bright, so eager, with something like a threat in them. She hailed the returning figure of McTee with relief.
He came bearing a large gourd, and he knelt before Kate so that she might look into it. She cried out at what she saw, for he had washed the inside of the gourd and filled it with cool water from the spring.
”Look!” said she to Harrigan. ”It's water--and my throat is fairly burning.”
”Humph,” growled Harrigan, and he avoided the eye of McTee.
The gourd was too heavy and clumsy for her to handle. The captain had to raise and tip it so that she might drink, and as she drank, her eyes went up to his with grat.i.tude.
Harrigan set his teeth and commenced raking the roasted eggs from the hot ashes. When her thirst was quenched, she looked in amazement at Harrigan; even his back showed anger. In some mysterious manner it was plain that she had displeased the big Irishman.
He turned now and offered her an egg, after removing the clay mold. But when she thanked him with the most flattering of smiles, she became aware that McTee in turn was vexed, while the Irishman seemed perfectly happy again.
”Have an egg, McTee,” he offered, and rolled a couple toward the big captain.
”I will not. I never had a taste for eggs.”
”Why, captain,” murmured Kate, ”you can't live on sh.e.l.lfish?”
”Humph! Can't I? Very nutritious, Kate, and very healthful. Have to be careful what you eat in this climate. Those eggs, for instance. Can you tell, Harrigan, whether or not they're fresh?”
Harrigan, his mouth full of egg, paused and glared at the captain.
”For the captain of a s.h.i.+p, McTee,” he said coldly, ”your head is packed with fool ideas. Eat your fish an' don't spoil the appet.i.tes of others.”
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